Testing steel to forge a blade
I’m always a bit shaky when I enter the theology shop. But then it’s not about me; it’s about God’s word.
We have all, every one of us, wondered this: why does God test us so hard?
It’s awful, isn’t it? Diseases afflict us, loved ones die, our country goes to pot, we have to sit there and watch the wicked prosper… What can we do but pray for strength? And for courage. And for faith. Above all, faith.
Because who has enough?
If you can’t quite make it to atheism, this stuff will do!
Oh, man! “Religion” is so bad for you! Like, if you take it seriously, it’ll drive you bonkers.
“Science” says so!
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
The light of atheism! We’re saved! Or is it waffy-daffy Spiritual Blather–I’m OK, you’re OK, everything’s OK, we’re all goin’ to Heaven to smoke marijuana every day!
You can see for yourself that atheists and New Agers never, never have any mental or moral problems. They have been saved by Science!
And I am the Sultan of Swat.
This is how Pope Francis weaseled out of saying whom he supported in America’s 2016 presidential election.
He was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he endorsed Hillary Clinton, he was endorsing the Abortion Queen. And he couldn’t back Trump: Pope Francis doesn’t think the USA should have a border.
So he took refuge in “The people are sovereign–”
Not that he believes it for a minute.
Scanning the nooze this morning, I felt a need to revisit Psalm 2–which also brought this 1871 hymn to mind, Christ Shall Have Dominion.
It’s getting bad out there. The ungodly are running wild, nothing seems to restrain them. But God is watching carefully, and here’s where the psalm comes in:
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Verses 1-4)
The Lord is laughing at them–at their vain words, their pretenses, their schemes for a global government with themselves in charge. They are nothing. They are pygmies who call themselves giants. The Lord will give His Son, His anointed, all power in heaven and on earth; and He will break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
We must not lose heart! Christ, not they, shall have dominion. This is what we as Christians must believe. God will keep His promises, every last one of them. He has blessed us by allowing us to enter into His labors with Him. We may fail from time to time, but He will not fail us.
When will that happen? We don’t know; God knows. There are Christian men and women not yet born who will do great things. Our job is to do what we can and never, never, never give in to the wicked.
And when God stops laughing, let the wicked beware. Christ’s Kingdom is already among us… working, working, working… for and until He regenerates His whole creation.
It was the ultimate catastrophe for the kingdom of Satan when Our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, as He said He would. Ever since, it’s been perpetual damage control for Satan and his servants–including, as we see so often, Reputable Bible Scholars Inc.
Yeah, uh-huh. This “early Christianity” didn’t have any of that annoying Christian stuff in it. Nothing that would offend CNN. It was… scientific!
Sometimes I wonder what’s going on in the mind of someone who writes a book like this. But it may be wiser not to get too close.
We see this in every human institution: middle management sucks up to the boss, old boss out and new boss in, middle management now blows the other way because the wind has changed.
But we would rather not see it in the churches.
Robert Barron, Bishop of Winona-Rochester, campaigned assiduously to become a bishop. When Pope Benedict XVI was in office, Barron was a conservative. When Francis I came in, Barron flipped and became a Far Left “progressive” known for supporting “gay clergy.” He has been described as an ecclesiastical chameleon.
In his latest caper, Barron taught that God punished (!) Elijah for destroying the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18). You can bet Pope Francis wouldn’t have done that! No–he’d have ’em in the Vatican for an interfaith game of croquet. Maybe they could swap some doctrines.
Barron is accused of tailoring his teaching to fit the times, “following the money and the power.” We expect to see this i,ns politics, in business–wherever sinful human beings get together.
So yes, it’s going to crop up in the churches.
And when it does… find another church.
There are those who object strenuously to the world that Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords, shall have dominion on the earth (not that they can do anything about it!). We always ask, but very seldom get an answer, “Who would you rather had dominion?”
Oh, God, look at our… “government”! Have pity on us, Lord, ruled over by the likes of these! And there are worse ones waiting in the wings.
We long for Christ to have dominion.
To this day we don’t know why “the authorities” did that. It seems “journalists” just couldn’t find out. Maybe they were busy investigating Islamophobia. Or wrong pronouns.
London Authorities Assign Christian Girl, 5, to Muslim Foster Parents
This monstrous situation was only rectified because somehow the public found out and made an uproar over it. With no help from “journalists.”
There is some indication that “the authorities” are lunatics. And our highly-paid mainstream noozies are lazy, incompetent hypocrites… but otherwise okay.
He had a close call.
Hey, remember that “Pachamama” idol the Red Pope had set up in the Vatican?
Well, a man in Bolivia says he was recently sacrificed to Pachamama–buried alive, and somehow smashed his way out of the coffin (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11103241/Man-smashes-way-COFFIN-buried-alive-sacrifice-mother-earth-Bolivia.html). He says he was at a “Mother Earth” festival, where he drank too much and passed out–and woke up inside a coffin, 50 miles from the site.
Sacrificed to Pachamama. Hot dog. It ain’t your grandpa’s Vatican, is it?
This is why you don’t bring heathen idols into the Vatican and set them up on altars. Kinda gives people the wrong idea.
I’ve got to go buy groceries, and I’ve got blog posts and a book chapter to write, plus editing–but first–!
This hymn came barreling into my head from I don’t know where: and I felt very strongly that I ought to post it then and there. Holy, Holy, Holy, sung by the congregation of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California.
